that is certainly helping nasdaq. michelle, great to be with you. >> i'm here all week, tyler. tip your waiter often. that's all for "power lunch." tell stocks ahead of the cliff? not today. buyers are back in. should you jump in? smart investment advice ahead. keep an eye out for both deals. yes, the cliff is key but watch gaza, too. we'll give you latest on both. the tart shareholder is on a mission to save thanksgiving. is he not happy. happening right now, a bankruptcy hearing for hostess. will the twinkie, will jobs be saved. company scrambling for a savior. a guest says don't save it. happy monday, everybody. optimism that the fiscal cliff will be avoided fueling this big stock market rally. major averages having their best gains in over two months. tasty easy treats in the s&p 500 -- tyson foods increased its

quarterly dividend and also throwing in a special dividend on top of that. elsewhere, home improvement retailer lowe's beating estimates on the top and bottom lines, sales better than expected as well. bank of america getting love from an upgrade to buy from a hold. down to the stock exchange of the floor of the nyse, bob pisani. we got ourselves a rally. how much conviction is hyped this? >> the volume is only on the moderate side. the answer is not an awful lot but in a sense it doesn't matter. people don't see the congress making negative comments about the fiscal cliff and they're happy. everybody's going to be gone for a week and a half. we have a nice little bounce off and it was really friday morning when the president started talking and came out with some of the congressional leaders. here's what's been going on. this is since the close on thursday. tech and materials, consumer discretionary, right across the board. 2% advances. that's a wide swath of the market that's moved up. one other thing i want to point out, three days in a row we've

seen insurance stocks rally. some of these stocks have been outperforming in the last few days. all outperform being the market because there is a belief now that a lot of the claims here are going to be somewhat limited. there is a lot of discussion about business interruption insurance. important point -- this insurance only covers if you have physical damage to your properties. if your property -- if your business went out because the power went out and there is no physical damage to your property, you can't really collect on these business insurance claims -- business interruption claims. that's limiting some of the damage there. back to you. >> bob, thank you. as bob was saying, look at stocks. investors more optimistic d.c. will come to its senses and fix the fiscal cliff. goldman sachs, not so fast. strategists there saying in a note they still expect the s&p 500 to sell off before the end of the year, perhaps as much as 8%. do your guests dare disagree with king goldman? matt mccormick, portfolio

manager, and steve masoka. steve do you agree or disagree with goldman stocks are likely to go down? >> i beg to disagree. i think that the market way overreacted to this fiscal cliff news. i think we saw very conciliatory talk coming out of both republicans and democrats. i think there is a deal that will be made before the end of the year and i think that deal will be done by essentially not cutting the deficit as much as one had anticipated. yes we'll get tax increases but they won't be as great as the democrats had asked for, and yes we'll get spending cuts but they won't be as great as the republicans have asked for and then we'll all go off to christmas very happy and smiley. i think the market senses that now after the friday press conference and that's what you see in this rally today. >> basically you are saying it is a whole much to do about nothing. with regards to dividends, matt, this is what your firm specializes in. you're poo-pooing this theory that people are dumping dividend

paying stocks ahead of potential tax hikes. >> i hope steve, first off, is correct. i'd love to see a deal happen. but when you look at dividend paying stocks, dividend performance is not necessarily related to tax policy. if you look when dividends went down in taxes in '03, they underperformed non-dividend paying stocks by roughly 52% from '03 to '07. dividend outperform when there is going to be more volatility. in the '70s, 2000, 2011. quarter today. i have no faith in politicians so i think politicians will -- >> we end up further down from here at the end of the year are you saying? >> i think you're going to be in a grind it out situation. i expect a lot of rumors. i think today's a fool's rally. because politicians aren't there, people actually expect a deal to be done? more volatility, not less. the income needs and downside protection means dividend paying stocks survive, do not go away regardless of what happens with tax policy. >> a lot of the men and women

charged with fixing the fiscal cliff are the same men and women that got us to the fiscal cliff. i'm not as optimistic as some. but -- but -- if we fall on fears, if they get a deal, does the market surge? >> well, i don't know about surge. i think the market -- >> why not? if we lost 1,000 points, wouldn't we gain it right back? >> there are other reasons for the loss of 1,000 points. . wasn't just the fiscal cliff, in my estimation. earnings season was not particularly great. it was the first kind of poor earnings seen we've had in many, many, many earnings seasons and i think there's some real question as to how robust the economy is right now and i think there is a lot of people that were upset over the results of the election and the stock market. there were hopes there would be a romney administration. that didn't come to pass so i don't think the smasht liked that. petulant as thatby mafr may be given how the market typically performs under democrats, that said, let's face it, most people on wall street were hoping for a republican victory and that

didn't happen. the reaction was to sell the market off. he think there's more at play here than the fiscal cliff. >> let's just up the ante on what brian was saying. even if you don't see it surging you do see the market gaining, right? does it matter what the deal looks like or do we just want to take away the uncertainty and have a deal? >> i think the easy path to a deal is going to be not to cut as much of the budget. i don't sense the pressure there for these deep deficit reductions that were there at the mid-term election last time when we got to this big argument when we got to the budget ceiling. i don't get that same feeling from politicians. think what's going to happen is we're going to have a deal by essentially borrowing more money and having -- yes, some tax increases, yes, some spending tax but nothing like being discussed back when we were doing the original deal. i don't think that's going to happen. >> the road is long and the can is light and shaped like a soccer ball. matt and steve -- >> and the economy's not that

great. >> well said. thank you. on deck, america up in arms about the demise of hostess. but, should we save the twinkie? your next guest says no. an then later on -- saving thanksgiving. some black friday fans are already camped out for a deal at stores now open on thursday night. but we've got a big target shareholder who says opening thursday just isn't right. his mission is to save thanksgiving. no deal yet on capitol hill. congress on vacate. casual meetings under way. 42 days. 42, friends. until the fiscal cliff. if congress fails to prevent the economy from diving off the fiscal cliff, over 1 million jobs with the labor income of over $46 million would be lost due to department of defense cuts. our schools... ... what should we invest in? maybe new buildings? what about updated equipment?

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happening right now -- hostess brands, the maker of twinkies, ding dongs and ho hos is in a new york bankruptcy courtroom to begin the liquidation process. there's been national frenzy to save these iconic brands, but will hostess find a buyer? that's the question, kayla tausche, what are you hearing? >> certainly we're right up against that deadline today. no doubt a lot of these potential buyers would be in court but that hearing is takes place in white plains, as we speak. a judge is expected to aprofit liquidation and also decide whether that liquidation happens in chapter 7 or chapter 11 bankruptcy. that's a key distinction for how the assets get sold off because

in chapter 11 the operation can continue to operate. one problem though that managers would get the majority of their pay to stay and affect the winddown. that payout plan likely to come under some heat in the courtroom today. the other question is whether there will be a buyer. analysts have pointed to flour buyers, perhaps not the whole company. one source said a group could face some competition issues. there's private equity. we know silver point capital and monarch alternative investments have been battling through hostess' bonds for about a year now but were unable to reach a deal earlier this year. "fortune" reporting that sun capital could make another run at hostess. we've confirmed that. a very interesting scenario because sun capital owns a lot of consumer brands that actually have gone in to bankruptcy like friendly's. so they have the experience in managing these companies that are in bankruptcy but also don't

necessarily have a good track record of turning them around. guys? >> all right, kayla tausche, thank you for that update. hostess has filed for bankruptcy a few times in the past. most people seem to be on the side of saving hostess, but maybe not our next guest. mimi ross is president of national action against obesity. rick berman joins us from d.c., executive director at the center for consumer freed dom. steve leisman is here with us. mimi, start with you. there's jobs here. what's wrong with -- i know you hate young food! why let them go-go? >> i don't all together hate junk food. rumor was twinkie could survive the apocalypse but maybe not this era of diabetes. we've seen the decline in sales at mcdonald's for the first time in nearly a decade. a decline in sweet soda consumption. if you're informed and sick --

>> clearly there is a demand out there to eat this. >> yes, we like the taste of it. but once that type 2 diabetes diagnosis comes in -- >> i didn't know mandy hated america until just now. bunch of fat americans gorging on ding dongs. >> a half a billion twinkies a year. >> let's bring in rick. add some sanity and brains to this discussion, please. we got america hating co-anchor here. >> should we save hostess? >> first of all, if we don't save hostess we're certainly going to save the brand. brand's going to get sole off and somebody else is going to make twinkies. somebody's going to make ding dongs, somebody else is going to make snowballs. when mimi roth talks about the fact we ought to let these things die, she really expects the fact that people are going to stop eating snack foods. little debbie's is still doing fine. you can still buy moon pies. cakes, cookies, ice cream, all of these things are available in

grocery stores. this is more about the labor union blow-up with hostess than it is about twinkies. >> i want to ask you, rick. to brian's point a moment ago, this company has actually been through bankruptcy a few times and it's always bounced back. right? judging by the number of names we just mentioned a moment ago sniffing around potentially interested, it feels as if people want this company to survive. >> people do want it to survive. they're popular brands. but at the end of the day the pension costs, the labor union costs have just gotten to the point where the company can no longer be competitive in an environment, in a recessionary environment where sales of everything are down and people are hanging on to their wallets. they've reached the tipping point. unfortunately, these guys are probably going to be out of business and somebody else is going to be producing these products in another country or another plant. >> the idea that somehow twinkie sales and ding dong and ho ho sales have been victims of the recession strikes me as a little bit suspect.

what really bothers me about this whole thing is if a quarter of the people who have gotten up in arms about the hostess bankruptcy actually ate the twinkies that they are missing. twinkie sales would be a whole lot better shape than they are right now. the fact is twinkies have been coming down and all of the products of hostess, as brian said earlier, it is not their first go round with bankruptcy. they've been there before and the reason is balls the market has moved away from that and i'd like to point out that to people on the right who are decrying what the unions have done here, the teamster's union was on board with the cuts. it was the bakers union that was not. to people on the left, i just think there is a lot less here than you are making it out to be. >> this weekend, everyone was rushing out to buy twinkies. can you see on ebay how much they're actually going for. the point of the matter is this has been a slow motion decline. >> kayla, you have know right to talk. looking at you, you are clearly not a twinkie or yo-yo eater.

>> i did eat twinkies. that's why i run marathons because i eat so many twinkies. >> ladies first. then rick. mimi? little debbie. >> why thank you. many of the things that you said, rick, i actually agree with. these are very baltimore brands and i do think they'll be picked up but i also think you'll see as more and more people get their diabetes diagnosis and more information you'll see a steady regular decline in this kind of product. it is just going to continue to happen. >> i don't have any argument with the fact that people will make choices. i'm just saying that twinkies are not particularly unusual when it comes to snack foods and therefore it's not the twinkie problem. it is the union problem in this case. in steve leisman makes --ky just address one thing? steve leisman made the case that the teamsters wanted the bakers union to give their own members

a vote on this package and the bakers union wouldn't do it. the teamsters told them they ought to have a secret ballot vote and the bakers union wouldn't and that's why this thing -- >> how do you excoriate all unions and union membership which is what a large part of the right has done on this issue when in fact -- >> the ceo got a big raise first time around in bankruptcy. >> they're excoriating the bakers union because they're the ones that triggered this strike and putting all the other unions out of business. >> don't take the sharpie to the all unions is my point, rick. >> i didn't say that. in fact i said that the teamster's wanted the baker union members to have a secret ballot vote and the bakers didn't give their own members that right. >> when was the last time you had a twinkie, rick? >> can't tell you whether. >> see, that's my point. you're sitting there fighting for the life of the twinkie and you haven't had one. i eat a yodel every now and then. >> i am fighting for people who want twinkies to be able to get them. >> then they should buy them!

if they bought them, twinkies would be in fine shape. >> this is just the first of those casualties against less junk, less sugar. who are going to be the next casualties? >> look at nestle but still selling diabetes drinks and drbz food bars. it goes full circle. doesn't it? i don't think it is a virtuous circle. >> horizontal integration. >> dunkin' donuts are hardly even known as doughnuts anymore. it is coffee and breakfast sandwiches. >> you're going soo to see more evolution of some of these brands that were once tied to a certain thing. >> you see what sodas are doing, moving to energy drinks and not the sugary drinks. >> i love everyone's debating this right now because this has really been a slow motion

decline. in 2000 hostess was a $2 billion company. this time they had a trillion dollars in debt. >> the ceo and other executives did get a big raise months ago according to many reports while they're going into this. that's the kind of stuff that ticks people off in america. >> kayla, they're also going to lose the hedge funds that have bought -- they're going to lose their principal through this bankruptcy. whatever they may have taken about in fees or salaries. they're going to lose a substantial amount through this bankruptcy, right? >> they will. but a lot of these distressed investors know that going in. they buy them at such a cheap, cheap point on the dollar that they know this. that's the risk they're willing to take when they go into something like that. i don't think that we can really

feel for the silver points or monarchs because they decided to go into an extremely risky investment. they did try to hold talks with the unions to strike a deal and that didn't work either. the think the twinkie will and should survive but i don't think that the structure that hostess had in place -- it was too onerous to be able to continue as a growing concern. >> you asked me who will see this trend? i predict this coming year will be the first time we see a flat or slight down tick in girl scout cookie sales. how about that? >> now you're going after the girl scouts. >> the charities! >> i think you and kayla should eat some twinkies and have more authority to talk about this. >> let's not 18,500 jobs, bakers in cincinnati and other places. that's a big part of the store. >> here's another prediction for you. i can give you one other prediction? now that the teamsters are in favorite of secret ballot votes we're going to see some change in the labor movement about how members represent themselves.

>> well said. >> thank you to all of you. we're going to have a twinkie eating contest. >> i don't eat twinkies. >> it smells good. >> have no fear. we have the perfect snack replacement if this goes away. you want to read the next one? and also you're going to hear from the target shareholder who says he'd rather lose money on the stock than see the store open on thanksgiving. but first, the markets monitoring six days of non-stop violence in the middle east. we have breaking news coming in. we are going to head live to gaza next. >> i can't read it because i'm eating. a check on the markets, 20 points high of a session high on the dow. intel the biggest drag. big story out of intel today. the one little red in the corner. we're back after this. here's one you may not have thought of -- fidelity. now you don't have to go to a bank to get the things you want from a bank, like no-fee atms, all over the world.

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we are getting word into cnbc right now that president obama has indeed called israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu, as well as egypt's president mohamed morsi ostensibly to discuss ways to get a cease-fire in the middle east. israeli inner cabinet is meeting as we speak.

ayman, what is the latest live? gaza? >> reporter: well, there's a flurry of diplomatic activity all across the region. we understand that israel's top security officials known as the inner cabinet that includes the prime minister, the defense minister and other important figures are going to be convening within the hour to have a meeting to discuss possible offers that have been made by egyptian mediators regarding the truce coming out of gaza and their response to those offers coming out of egypt. more importantly, they're also going to chart what course of action the israeli government will undertake if indeed they reject or accept that truce offer. there are 30,000 soldiers that have been amassed across the border, 75,000 called up from the reservists. many people feel that's an ominous sign a ground invasion is eminent if indeed these truce talks fail. on the egyptian side, the u.n. secretary-general ban ki-moon expected ed ted to arrive in c meet with officials, he'll travel to israel on the west bank.

intelligence officials have been meeting throughout the day with palestinian leaders from top factions here in gaza to try and solidify a truce. there are still some sticking points as to whether or not this truce will go into effect and what it would look like. there are some differences but egyptian officials want to try to put this in place as quickly as possible. israel's demanding a complete cessation of hostilities immediately. the palestinian factions are demanding that if they are to do so, israel must lift a five-year-old blockade impeded on gaza to allow for freer access of people and goods in and out of the territory. >> thank you for the latest. let's look at the oil impact here. a senior political analyst at barclays is with us. thank you very much for joining us today. no oil is being lost as we speak, but what is the potential threat -- i know we're talking about potential cease-fires here. but as we see it what is the potential threat to the oil market? >> i think if we see a grond invasii ground invasion you'll see oil rise. i think the conflict would have to extend to involve an actor

like iran. that's something people were initially worried about. iran has provided financial support for hamas. they provide rhetorical support at the moment but we don't really see the iranians willing to get involved on a big basis in this dispute right now. >> how are you so confident on that? that's the big threat. >> that is the big threat. there's been a bit of a rift between iran and hezbollah and hamas over the issue of syria. hamas backs the syrian opposition. iran and hezbollah back the assad regime. hamas used to basically have an office in syria. they left in february and moved to qatar. hamas is much more aligned now with eequipped, with qatar, with turkey, with the sunni showers, not shia powers like iran. >> you think to have any noticeable impact in the oil market we'd have to see it spread to other areas, iran, et cetera. how much of this is psychological? there is always a psychological impact. if there is a cease-fire and everything comes down, how much could the price of oil drop? >> i could see it come off a few

dollars. i think right now what's driving the market is this kind of fear of nobody knows what's going to happen next. that's why if you have a ground invasion i think oil prices could rise a few more dollars just on concern that it could spread to potential producing countries. i don't think that's a real risk but the market i think will be nervous. >> what's the threat we are not talking about right now? >> i think we still have to focus on iran. lost in noise was the iae report that came out on iran on friday showing they are continuing to make significant progress on their nuclear program, transferring centrifuges in highly fortified sites, enrimping at higher levels. we're going to have a real gut check in 2013 about what to do about their program. up next, brewing jobs right here in the great nation of america. one beermaker's unconventional plan to get people working again. and just to prove i'm not an american hater, i brought one of my flags. in the meantime, pinterest.

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if the u.s. falls off the fiscal cliff, this would amount in an average increase of $3,500 per household.

bank of america is up big on an upgrade. >> upgraded to buy from hold, establishing a $11 target. about 17% return from current levels. thinking a drop in operating expenses will more than offset sluggish growth.

bank of america up 68% or so year to date. another stoke that is soaring, barclays. >> the all banking first two. goldman sachs adding this to their conviction buy list. a bit of an odd call though. goldman is basing this on their belief that in february at a big meeting barclays is going to announce restructuring of its operations. they're going to restructure, change some groups around. if they do it, goldman thinks it could have a sector leading up side. but they say even if barclays doesn't restructure the stock they believe has nice downside support. >> lowe's trading at 5 1/2-year highs. >> great story. profit 5 cents above expectations. they beat sales forecasts. here's your equation on lowe's. lower costs plus higher sales equals good news. there's your equation. they also had big pre-sandy sales, people prepping for the storm. obvious i, unfortunately, going to have to do rebuilding now. tyson foods rising on a big earnings beat. >> shares of tyson soaring. it made 55 cents last quarter.

11 cents above the consensus forecast. earnings up 91%. ceo said they are reaching a new level of sustainable performance. by the way, speaking of taxes -- one-time dividend of 10 cents a share announce and raising their dividend to five cents from 4 cents. flower power. >> flowers foods, higher after extending its credit facility, upgraded to buy from hold from debank capital markets. rumored -- if there's bidders for hostess, flowers potentially could be involved. they're a baking company. it is the end of an era at intel. struggling chipmaker struggling for a new ceo as the current ceo says he'll retire in may. >>en jon fortt joins us now. how big of a surprise move was this from intel? >> kind of a surprise. we expected him to retire eventually but he was still a couple years away from mandatory retirement age. not only has he been a steady hand for intel, spearheading the

effort that popularized wi-fi efforts, tame engineering settlements that took the heat off from feds and competitors like amd and invideo. intel's wrong bets on mobile -- the company used to license the same arkansas texture that apple, qualcomm and others used to design their chips. but a year in his teen your intel sold that business to marvell. intel's rationale believed its own 86 architecture would be better than the arm architecture. if he had kept the x-scale business and developed that and both x-86, qualcomm may not be as dominant as it is now. >> lots of things to consider there. is this a sign you should stay away from investing in intel?

edward snyder, co-founder of charter equity research. ed, is this very un-intel and does it suggest there might be something fishy going on? >> yeah, it is very un-intel. it is usually a very smooth transition. this kind of announcement you'd normally make at an analyst day or talk about in a quarter like in the next year or so we are looking at a transition. for to come out of the blue by this and have him departing by may is exceedingly unusual. if it is not also coupled with some debacle -- doesn't appear they're suffering anywhere -- i'd almost bet this is a personal reason type thing. it is quite unchraracteristic o intel. >> wouldn't that be more immediate than may? >> it depends. i hate to think of a health reason but i don't know what the background is. intel's in no way in trouble. they've, as jon pointed out, totally trounced their competitors sitting on a pile of cash, generating a huge amount every quarter. they're slow to start in mobile, sure. but they are qualcomm's biggest

threat. it is going to be a couple years out but they'll eventually get there. there is no real catalyst here for a change-out at ceo that's everybody depth from the street side of it. i am guessing it is probably something internal. >> i'll throw out a wild card here. it was something excellently brought up by one of our producers, kevin flynn. essentially jobs said he would not use intel chips, they were slow, the graphics sucked, et cetera. mosselini pushed really hard to get intel chips inside ipads and other iproducts. did people on the board say, you know what, he doesn't have vision? >> no. apple is coming at this from a completely different world. it is a mobile product. very, very different animal than what intel's used to producing. intel's recognized that and they're coming at it from pretty far back in the pack so it will take several years for them to develop a product that's competitive with qualcomm but they're on that path. they bought infineon, well established, well regarded group

of guys doing mobile and they've pretty much left them alone to do what they've got to do and they have an arm license. it isn't like intel -- in the old days they'll make this acquisition and just keep doing intel. >> do we buy intel stock? >> no. but that's an economic issue. the economy's slowing down and pcs are taking it on the chin so i wouldn't be buying here. breaking news on hostess. kayla, what's happening over there? >> mandy, we're just getting headlines out of bankruptcy court where the u.s. bankruptcy judge has briefly adjourned the courtroom after urging hostess, its unions and lenders to solve the problem via private mediation, not in the limelight of a public hearing. we have no idea how this will play out. we no there are several bidders potentially waiting in the wings but for the moment the judge has urged hostess along with its counterparties to solve this via private mediation. of course that could take any form and we're waiting to hear exactly what the timeline on something like that could be. >> kayla, thank you.

coming up later -- he owns a million bucks' worth of target stock and he is leading a push to stop them from opening on thanksgiving. but next -- how sam adams tapping its own resources to save jobs right here in this wonderful country of america. ♪ [ engine revs ] ♪ [ male announcer ] oh what fun it is to ride. get the mercedes-benz on your wish list at the winter event going on now -- but hurry, the offer ends soon. [ santa ] ho, ho, ho! [ male announcer ] lease a 2013 e350 for $579 a month at yourcal mercedes-benz dealer.

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coming up on "closing bell," is active fund management. dead. also ahead -- stocks may be rallying on hopes after fiscal cliff deal, but we'll hear from a guest who says there's still more than a 60% chance we're going over that cliff. and we'll hear from a former hostess union member who says the company is much more interested in rewarding investors than making twinkies or wonder bread. michelle caruso-cabrera is with me today, we'll see you at the top of the hour. today's "sunshine stock" comes from my old stomping ground, asia. reports alibaba group is considering buying a stake in a chinese version of twitter. alibaba runs china's largest

e-commerce site. it could be a good strategic fit, up by nearly 10%. back here in this fine land, talk about paying it forward, sam adams, the big brewer, now helping other entrepreneurs create jobs in the u.s. jane wells has this very, very cool story but is terrifying us all on this bicycle. >> well, i've been eating and biking and eating and biking. i'm exhausted, i'm sweating. anyhow, in a new economy you need to have new ideas. in this new office space being built downtown, they hope to peddle success. >> right now we're just making vanilla. >> he has started peddlers creamery making organic and veganized cream churning it sustainably using a bike. he has never run a business, has no track record, just an idea, a plan and a passion. >> you go and look around at normal banks and ask them, i'd love to start a business, here's my business plan and they say,

you need two years of basic operations to show them that you're worthy of getting a loan. >> how did he get a $15,000 five-year loan to rent and renovate this space? he applied to the samuel adams brewing the american dream fund which has given 200 start-ups microloans totaling $207 million. the founder of sam adams, says jim edward believed in him way back then. >> then we add to that loan something just as important, which is mentoring, coaching and counseling so that the businesses that get the loan will actually use the loan to be successful, grow their business, create jobs, and pay the loan back so that we can recycle the loan money to the next business. >> it's like magic. he hopes to open in about a week or so and hire eight people. i tell him he should just turn it into a spin center and have people actually pay him to make

the ice cream. >> talking of payments, how much does he charge basically to sell one of those pints that takes terribly long time and a lot of effort to make? >> i'm sorry, you're going to have to say that again, mandy. >> how much does he charge for a pints of that stuff? >> this? how much does this cost? $4 for a quarter or pint -- a cube. $4 a cube. worth every penny. by the way, the loans is five years. it is about 8%, 8.5% a year. that's more expensive than you get from a government backed small business loan but these are higher risk loans. since most of these businesses are started on a credit card, this is a lot cheaper than that. zplin de . >> indeed. here's our entrepreneur. >> thank you so of much, jane wells. >> if this is the best of live tv, we're in big trouble. >> we're all laughing, having a good time. >> i'm crying inside.

jackie has a big move in oil. >> good afternoon. middle east tensions are the big factor behind the oil prices today. we saw about a 3% spike in both the wti and the brent price. the brent price is driving up gas and also heating oil at the ta same time. it is not really israel and pal tine we're so worried about in the pits here, but it is the fact that the middle east post-arab spring has become a tinder boshgs, if you will. the fear is that the conflict we are seeing on the ground there could potentially ignite it. that's really what traders are focusing in on. want to point out in the energy space that we saw a little bit of a dip in natural gas today because geopolitical concerns are not so much of an issue there. traders telling me that we're seeing higher than average temperatures for this part of the season and that's why nat gas was a little down. back over to you. >> jackie, thank you very much. could social sites be a game changer for retailers this holiday shopping season? talk about that, and how pinterest is looking to sell

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♪ it's beginning to look a lot like christmas ♪ >> the countdown is on for christmas. 35 days. nine hours, nine minutes and 29 seconds. >> how do you know? is that in every time zone? that's impossible. in guam that's 39 days. that's an east coast biased clock and i demand it be removed. >> calm down. you have a little more to go in you're behind united states. >> no, we're number one. >> forget black friday, folks, because legions of shoppers are getting ready to hit the stores on thanksgiving.

pinterst is joining. >> there's no doubt, this holiday shopping season will be a big one for pinterst, valued as $1.5 billion, may not be making money itself but it's helping retailers cash in. they just launched tools for business to drive users to share images as groundwork for pinterest to sell analytics. a third of all brands have an active pinterest presence, and 25 million monthly users, one-fifth of facebook's traffic. pinterest users have particularly valuable. two-thirds are women, eager to share and have money to spend. shoppers average retail order after leaving pinterest is $169, nearly twice facebook and more than twice twitter. information about what people pin can be more useful for

targeting customers than what's shared on facebook or twitter. amazon-owned zappos generates recommendations based on pinterest activity. >> if you know your wife, for example s a big pinterest user, we can make recommendations for your wife. >> pinterest launched secret boards to allow people to share wish lists with their friends. we'll have to see what happens when they start offering ads. zappos said they're eager to see if they draw more from pinterest to zappos. >> are you a pinterest person, a facebook friendster, aol message board? >> definitely not friendster. i think all of these tools are useful. i'm personally probably more of a facebook and twitter user, but i think when it comes to finding gifts for people, pinterest is valuable. if i was looking for a present for a friend and i knew i could plug in her pinterest info and

get recommendations she would like, it's a good tool for me and the retail. >> the days of the ugly sweater are over which makes sweater manufacturers sad. >> that's a good thing. no more ugly sweaters. >> only my house. walmart going to the national labor relations board to prevent workers from striking on black friday. many walmart employees are upset on plans to open up thanksgiving at 8 p.m. thursday night. national labor relations board says resolving walmart's complaint is a top priority. meantime, target employees, shoppers and now even shareholders are speaking out about the retail giant's plan to also open up on thanksgiving. more than 352,000 people have signed a petition for target's ceo on change.org to basically stop it. so, is target just being competitive or should they bow to this pressure? let's find out and ask john harrington, ceo of harrington

investment, socially responsible investment firm, about a million bucks in target stocks. >> it's good to be here. the main issue is whether we honor our employees as stockholders or as shareholders, and also look at all the other stakeholders, which include not only employees and customers, it's probably about time we begin to sort of reduce the frenziness around commercialization of human being. >> are you incensed enough you would sell target stock if they don't yield to your demands? >> i think that's an issue we'll take down the road. the main thing is, we are engaged in shareholder advocacy. the main thing for us is making sure that management knows we're concerned about this insanity that goes on every thanksgiving and christmas. we need to -- employees only

have three days a year, to have for holidays. we need to think about them also. >> i totally understand. i'm all for family. looking at this 100% from a commercial point of view, as a shareholder you want the company to make profits, right, to make more sales by opening on thanksgiving, isn't it potentially getting more sales? >> absolutely. i think the main thing is, though, looking at it long term for shareholder value -- a lot of things happen with this frenziness and craziness. people get into fights, struggling themselves into a store. we have people stampeding and being trampled and then people being out on the street waiting to get in. you've got a cold night and all of a sudden you have people that, you know, have some health issues. >> john, thank you very much for sharing that with us. >> thank you. in the meantime, a replacement for your twinkie next. twins. i didn't see them coming. i have obligations. cute obligations, but obligations.

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rewards we put right back into our business. this is the only thing we've ever wanted to do and ink helps us do it. make your mark with ink from chase. i heard you guys can ship ground for less than the ups store. that's right. i've learned the only way to get a holiday deal is to camp out. you know we've been open all night. is this a trick to get my spot? [ male announcer ] break from the holiday stress. save on ground shipping at fedex office. have no fear, twinkie lovers, we have found a new fix for you. we give you holiday pringles. the new flavors are pumpkin spice, cinnamon and sugar and white chocolate peppermint. not sure i'll be going with those but nothing says christmas like a can of pringles. >> i have something very cool to tease but first have i to do something for my co-host. this is for you. please, put it in your house. i know you love america. here's a big thing, markets, a

lot of green on the screen. utilities, the big dividend payers, by the way. the only segment that is down today in the markets, a solid day. we've got to tease something coming up next week. what are the best cities for the stock market in america? the best cities. public companies. i made indexes, for a year i've been tracking 25 indexes with ten companies in each one. we have winners. next week, very cool, monday, tuesday and wednesday, i'm going to be in three different cities counting down the best cities for the stock market over the past 12 months. it's surprising. i call it the recovery road trip. >> you have winners. do you have losers? >> next year we'll do the three worst. >> so it will be fun. next week, big show. i have to move around the country very rapidly. my skin is loose. >> thank you so much for watching "street signs." "closing bell" up your way next.